On Tue, 5 Aug 2003, Alan Altmark wrote: > On Wednesday, 08/06/2003 at 07:27 ZE8, John Summerfield > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Linus bases the pronunciation of Linux on the way he says Linus, but we > > pronounce Linus quite differently. > > You know, I couldn't care less whether someone says "LEE-nooks," > "LEE-nucks," "LIN-ooks," or "LIN-uks," but I do get upset when I hear > "LINE-uks". It seems to be just *too* anglicized for my comfort. At
Actually, I don't say LINE-uks - I got brainwashed before I thought about it, but OTOH if someone does pronounce it that way, I figure they don't know enough about the Linux to be useful;-) > least the others sound closer to the way Linus says it. In one sense, my > pronounciation is arbitrary anyway, so why *not* use a version which is > closer to the way the author pronounces it? (But if you buy an IBM > eServer box from me, you can prounounce "Linux" any way you darn well > please and I'll promise to like it! ;-) ) > > [Interesting discussion of human nature that has no resolution. It is our > natural tendency to take that which is "foreign", or "not us", and co-opt > it to be "native", or "us".] In these time of so much communication in writing, any way a native speaker of the language would pronounce it is reasonable. So, lie-nux is reasonable, Noppix is reasonable (and Klaus Nopper would have to get used to his new name if he came here to live because there's no way he's going to educate 20 million Aussies to pronounce the K in Knoppix or Knopper). Some, particularly with names ending in ic, have changed the spelling of their names to end in ich to get peoples' pronunciation right, then people "got educated" and say ick. In Germany I would have to learn an alternative way to pronounce my name, but then people have called me worse. -- Cheers John. Join the "Linux Support by Small Businesses" list at http://mail.computerdatasafe.com.au/mailman/listinfo/lssb Copyright John Summerfield. Reproduction prohibited.
